Operation Ruined Perch
by One More Hero
Summary: I wrote this short piece for my friend who wanted something new to read over the weekend. The .txt file didn't upload properly so forgive any syntax errors. PS - I'm also writing a screenplay for a short film.... Coming soon...!
1. Chapter 1

1 week after Op. Hollow Storm

Operation Ruined Perch Ephyra City - Tyran Delta Red ~~~ Hoffman had split them up. Marcus didn't like it. Not one bit.

A few days after they had sunk Jacinto to flood the locust tunnels, word had gone round that the few remaining Kryll had settled a new nest and were harassing human populations. So here they were, trudging through the ruins of Ephyra, Marcus' hometown, just so they could investigate a location where this alleged Kryll nest might be.

"Yo Marcus. Man, you better hurry the rookie up, little dude is fallin' behind." Cole bellowed from beside Marcus.

Marcus turned around and saw his other squadmate scrambling over some fallen debris in the street. Marvin Carmine was one of the many, many Carmine brothers, it seemed like they always got appointed to his squad and met with unfortunate circumstances.

"Move your ass greenhorn, we can't afford to be caught in this open street when the sun goes down."

"Sir, yes sir."

They were moving down the remains of Main Street in Ephyra, hoping, (or was it not hoping?) to find the giant telltale sinkhole made by nesting Kryll colonies. Marcus often found himself wondering during this trek what they would do if they found the nest. Surely their lancers couldn't take it down? Kryll nests were huge underground structures. He brought this up when Hoffman briefed them yesterday, and according to him, this was simply a recon mission. The locust were wiped out during the lightmass bombing, but the Kryll came back. Find the nest, radio command, wait for extraction, mission accomplished. So why did something feel off?

There was a glint on one of the far rooftops.  
A sudden sound of falling debris. Both Marcus and Cole wheeled round, lancers drawn, only to find that the rookie sprawled on the ground having tripped over a low barricade. Probably built by the stranded when they were camping here.

"Damn son, you nearly gave us a heart attack." Cole walked over to Carmine and hoisted the rookie up.

"Sorry Corporal," nodding to Cole, "Sergeant," nodding to Marcus. "It's just that this is my first time seeing the legendary Delta Squad in action and I'm just in awe of how real this all is."

"What action greenhorn? This place is a gra-" Marcus stopped midsentence and leapt to the side a split second before a tracer round whizzed through the air where his head just was. "SNIPER! GET IN COVER!"

Cole yanked the rookie into cover behind Marcus. "Son of a bitch, who's that shooting at us? Man, I thought the locust were gone from Ephyra!"

"Yeah well tell it to big ugly up there." Marcus poked his head slowly around the corner of the destroyed building they were hunkered behind. "Shit, I lost him." He looked around, noting the extremely eerie silence descending upon the scene.

"Hey rookie, take that longshot of yours, get up on the second floor, find some cover and see if you can't spot that bastard sniper." Cole positioned himself to boost Carmine up to the fire escape on the wall of the building.

As Cole helped boost Carmine up, Marcus ran through the nuances of this scenario in his mind like he always did.

This was an intel only op, they weren't equipped for combat. There weren't supposed to be any locust left in Ephyra. The sniper was obviously caught off guard, not expecting to see Delta there; he was probably calling in reinforcements already. The only way to continue this op was to eliminate the threat. But the most practical thing to do now was to get in touch with command and either cancel this mission, or get backup.

He made his decision. "Cole I need yo-" There was a crack, then another a sharp retort, followed by...

"Hell yeah bitch! Sergeant Fenix, Corporal Cole, I got him!" Carmine from the second floor of the building.

"YOU IDIOT! Those longshot are equipped with tracer rounds, if he called in backup we're fucked. They know where we are. We're not equipped for any long term combat, we've got to move! NOW!" Marcus bolted for the street followed by Cole, followed by a disoriented Carmine who had leapt down from the second floor.

"Aww shit... REAVERS!" Cole pointed up towards the direction of the sniper that Carmine had "lobotomized" as Baird loved to say.

Sure enough, not one, not two, but a whole flock of Reavers were heading in their direction.

"Shit. Get in that building! Quick! Go go go go! Before they see us!" Marcus ran towards the doorway of an abandoned restaurant.

They all piled in one after the other and Marcus slammed the door shut. "What the hell is going on? First a sniper, now Reavers? In Ephyra? I've never seen that many Reavers flying together during my whole COG tenure. Something's going in this city."

"Hey man, we're pinned down in a beat up old building, with a heavily armed squadron of Reavers touching down all around us. We're outgunned and outnumbered, just the way I like it. At least it can't get any worse." Cole quipped as he made himself comfortable in a windowside booth.

"Umm... Sergeant? I've never seen a Reaver before, which ones are they?" Carmine stated peeking through the decrepit curtains in the window.

"The big flying ones rook. They've got tendrils and are usually manned by a couple of grubs." Marcus sat down next to Cole and started fiddling with his radio, trying to get in touch with high command.

"You mean the giant glowing ones?"

Marcus and Cole both leapt up to the window, fearing the worst.

"...Shit Marcus... NOW we're fucked."

The Reavers were lambent. 


	2. Chapter 2

Berephus - Ostri Republic Delta Blue ~~~ "BAIRD! BEHIND YOU!" Dom pulled the chainsaw out of half a grub and swung his lancer around to cover Baird who was hunched over trying to fire up the generator for the old factory.

"Don't worry boy, I got 'im." Dizzy ran out from behind the generator, pumped his gnasher once, and fired point blank into the back of the locust grub that was bearing down on Baird.

"You wanna figure out how to turn the power on any time this year?" Questioned Dom as he once again revved up his chainsaw and lunged it into an incoming grubs chest, blood and bone chips flying in every which direction.

"Hold your horses.... there." The lights flickered on, dim, but better than fighting in near pitch blackness with only muzzle fire to light the environment. Baird drew his lancer and joined his two squadmates in cleaning up the remaining locust grubs.

Dom surveyed the carnage as Dizzy put a few last bullets in the head of a still conscious grub. The factory was pretty old, probably built by the UIR back during the Pendulum Wars. Judging by the huge amount of drilling mechanisms strewn around the room they were in, it was meant to retrieve and process imulsion. Unfortunately though, after the Pendulum Wars, the race for imulsion waned and factories such as this one were all but shut down and forgotten. The machinery was all rusty and decrepit, Dom doubted any of if still worked.

"Hoo boy, this place is a right shithole ain't it?" Dizzy walked over to where Dom was and started wiping his gnasher shotgun clean from the locust blood and guts splattered all over it.

Dom had often wondered what had happened to the rest of the COG after Skorge attacked their assault derricks during Op. Hollow Storm. Tai had wound up captured by the locust, but Dizzy had disappeared. A few days after sinking Jacinto, Dizzy had shown up on the COG headquarters' doorstep, naked, bruised and bloody, screaming like a madman about the Kryll attacking him. It was on his intel that Hoffman had split up Delta squad and sent them to investigate the only two possible locations where the Kryll could build another nest.

It wasn't that Dom didn't trust Dizzy, it was just the fact that he had been missing since the Skorge attack. What's to say that the locust didn't capture him, torture him and let him go? He had talked to Dizzy before this Op. Him and Marcus. They had asked him if he remembered anything. All he could recollect was pulling into Landown, getting jumped by Skorge and then... nothing. Maybe it was for the best that he couldn't remember anything.

"What do you think Baird, with just one generator running, can we access the scanner for the factory?"

"Not a chance. The generator was wired for only 300 kW prime power. That wouldn't even light up a fourth of a building this size. We're gonna have to access at least two more generators before the scanner will function." Baird hesitated for a second, went back to the generator, opened a panel on the bottom and let out a relieved sigh.

"What is it son?" Dizzy walked over to Baird, kneeled down and tried to look at what Baird was examining.

"It's the wiring code for this factory; basically it's a map that shows us where the generators are."

Now Dom exhaled a sigh of relief. They had gone through hell trying to get to this factory. The Ostri Republic was where the UIR reigned supreme. Unfortunately they were caught even more off guard on E-Day than the COG were: there was no longer a UIR. Apparently the locust now had command of the whole peninsula. God only knew what they were doing down here. At least the locust in Ostri weren't as well equipped as the locust in Tyran.

Tyran... that's where Marcus and Cole were deployed, probably walking down the ruined streets of Ephyra. They were on the same Op. but different locations. Hoffman had narrowed it down to two. Dom had decided to head straight for this old factory as soon as they touched down on Ostri soil. He had memories here. It was here where his brother had died, saving his and Marcus' lives.

Apart from the sentimental value, this factory was where the UIR had developed a massive ground sonar to use against the COG during the Pendulum Wars. They had a huge team of scientists developing this sonar nonstop. According to COG intel back in the day, if they had stolen this, the war might have been over in a matter of weeks instead of years. It was this device that Dom wanted to activate in order to find the Kryll nest.

Baird walked over, "alright, there are 5 other generators, we only need to activate two. The two closest ones aren't too far, but they're underground so we'll hav-"

"Underground? Son I ain't ever been underground, but isn't that where them big uglies live? Why can't we stick to the ones above ground, so we ain't gotta deal with their ugly mugs?"

Dom added, "Dizzy's right Baird. We don't have time to be dealing with the locust. Especially not underground. We're ill equipped as it is. We go for two of them that are aboveground."

"Fine, follow me... Sergeant." The sheer irritation in Baird's voice upon saying the word "sergeant" was very apparent. It was clear to Dom that Baird was upset that Dom got a promotion, and he didn't. But Dom didn't mind. Baird might complain a lot, but he was loyal to the end. Good thing Marcus wasn't here though, he'd reprimand the shit out of him.

Smiling to himself, Dom fell in behind Baird and Dizzy as they headed deeper into the heart of the massive factory. 


End file.
